Contest is now CLOSED.
Fall is my favorite season. I look forward to it from the moment it ends, winter descending, until the first real cold snap overnight in August, signaling imminent fiery return. For me, fall is often a brief season, and feels as if its glory is expansive, intensified as a result of its brevity. Flash fiction can be very similar, with the best of these short stories containing not only a full arc, but a sense of concentrated detail. If a novel is a layer cake, a flash piece is an exquisite truffle, one or two bites, but wholly satisfying.
This fall, we invite you to submit your best work of speculative flash fiction, with the theme ‘October’, to our first fiction contest. Three winners will be published in a mini issue on on October 30, just in time for the best of holidays: Halloween. Guidelines are below and submissions are open September 10 – 30, 2017. One submission per author is permitted for this contest.
Contest Winnings:
- 1st place: $50US
- 2nd place: $25US
- 3rd place: $10US
- Publication on syntaxandsalt.com 10/30/2017
The Rules:
- 1,000 words or less
- New, never before published work only
- We read blind. All submissions must be completely absent of identifying information or they will be rejected without being read.
- For the sake of formatting, we do prefer standard manuscript formatting. You can find an example here. Remember to remove ALL identifying information from your submission manuscript.
- That does mean Times New Roman or Courier, 12pt., double-spaced. We won’t probably reject you out right for deviations, unless you submit in comic sans — that’s just not ok. Real talk, double-spacing makes life a lot easier for our readers. Be nice to our readers.
- We are indifferent to cover letters — if you send one, we just want to know what you’re submitting, and the length of your submission. A brief third person bio can be included, or we’ll ask for one upon acceptance.
- We will respond by 10/20/2017 letting you know if your piece is one of our winners.
- Simultaneous submissions are NOT welcome for this contest.
- Don’t forget: remove all identifying information – our staff blind reads submissions.
Legal Things:
- Syntax & Salt pays via by PayPal for each story. Payment is guaranteed within 10 business days of the current issue going live.
- Syntax & Salt supports and welcomes stories by and about individuals of all ages, classes, disabilities, ethnicities, genders, nationalities, races, religions, and sexual orientations.
- Syntax & Salt purchases first worldwide English-language serial and electronic rights. Each story we purchase will be published on syntaxandsalt.com in an electronic quarterly issue. We may also excerpt stories for promotional purposes. The author retains all other rights.
Looking forward to your entries,
Ani King, Editor in Chief